Key Issue 3: Where is Agriculture Distributed?
by Arnav Dandu
1. Subsistence Agriculture
1.1. production of crops for survival of the farmers and their families
2. Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
2.1. where farmers work the land more intensively to subsist
3. Pastoral Nomadism
3.1. Involves usage of domesticated livestock
3.2. Type of livestock depends on region
3.3. Used for food, clothing, and shelter
3.4. Animals include goats, camels, horses, sheep, and cattle
3.5. Practiced in the drylands of Southwest Asia, North Africa, Central Asia, and East Asia
4. Shifting Cultivation
4.1. Slash and burn agriculture
4.2. Creates swidden (leftover, nutrient-rich land)
4.3. Rice, maize, manioc, millet, sorghum were grown
4.4. Land was left alone to replenish after nutrients were depleted
4.5. Practiced in Asia, South America, and Africa
5. Dairy Farming
5.1. Labor-intensive; cows must be milked twice daily
5.2. Declining revenue despite technological advancements
5.3. Most prevalent near urban areas of North America and Europe
6. Mixed Crop and Livestock
6.1. Growing of large quantities of corn
6.2. Corn is fed to livestock which supplies manure, which is used to improve soil quality
6.3. Practiced in the US and Northern Europe
7. Developing Regions
8. Wet Rice Dominant
8.1. Rice planted on dry nurseries then transferred to flooded field
8.2. After a month, seeds are transplanted and then harvested
8.3. Promotes growth as seedlings
8.4. Mostly takes places in river valleys and deltas
8.5. Practiced in Southeast Asia, East India
9. Wet Rice Not Dominant
9.1. Occurs in climates with harsh winters and low precipitation in the summer
9.2. Plants such as wheat, barley, millet, oats, and corn were planted, as well as cash crops like cotton and flax
9.3. Crop rotation was used; rotating different fields with different crops to keep fields healthy
9.4. Plants are planted in the spring and harvested in fall, with nothing in winter
9.5. Practiced mostly in Northern China or the interior of India
10. Plantation Agriculture
10.1. Only significant form of commercial agriculture in developing regions
10.2. Profit-driven, labor-intensive, and foreign owned plantations
10.3. Specialize in cash crops such as coffee and arcane
10.4. Found in tropical/subtropical regions of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia
11. Economic and Environmental Impacts
12. Fishing
12.1. Developing countries have increased consumption at a greater rate than developed countries.
12.2. Developing countries are responsible for 5/6 of the rapid increase since 1960.
12.3. The U.N. estimated that 1/4 of fish stocks are overfished and 1/2 are fully exploited.
12.4. A large output from countries like China, Indonesia, Chile, and Peru.
13. Intensive Subsistence Farming
13.1. Wet-rice Dominant
13.1.1. Occupies a small percentage of Asia's land, but is the region's most important source of food.
13.1.2. More than 90% of rice production comes from East, South, and Southeast Asia.
13.2. Wet Rice Not Dominant
13.2.1. Practice crop rotation to avoid exhausting the soil of nutrients
13.2.2. Cotton, flax, hemp, and tobacco are grown in order to be sold.
14. Pastoral Nomadism
14.1. Animals are not used as a food source or for financial gain. Instead, nomads obtain grain by trading animal products or growing crops.
14.2. Does not contribute to economy, so governments force groups to move off of land that can be used for more productive activities.
14.3. Now, nomads are confined to areas that lack value or encouraged to join the mining or petroleum workforce.
14.4. Only 15 million nomads, but they occupy 20 percent of the Earth's land area
15. Polar
15.1. Northern North America and Northern Asia
15.2. Very cold climate, not suitable for agriculture
15.3. Barely any agriculture at all, but growing due to global warming which makes previously impossible to grow crops possible
16. Highland
16.1. Central Asia, Western South Africa, Central Europe
16.2. Pastoral Nomadism, Ranching
16.3. Drier, colder climate, not very fertile
17. Warm Mid Latitudes
17.1. Warmer, wetter climate
17.2. East Asia, Western Europe, Southeastern North America, and Southeastern South America
17.3. Intensive subsistence, wet rice dominant, meditterranean
18. Divide between southeastern and northeastern China in agricultural practices because of the climate
19. Cold Mid Latitudes
19.1. Northern parts of North America, Europe, and Asia
19.2. Intensive subsistence, crops other than rice dominant due to the colder climate
20. Tropical
20.1. Central America, Northern South America, Central Africa, and Southern Asia
20.2. Plantation, Shifting cultivation
21. Dry
21.1. Pastoral Nomadism, Ranching due to the drier climate.
21.2. Northern and southern parts of Africa, Australia, central Asia
21.3. Many areas have little to no agriculture
22. Truck Farming
22.1. Commercial gardening/fruit farming dominates Southeastern United States
22.2. Known as truck farming; grows lots of produce such as apples, asparagus, cherries, lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes
22.3. Often takes advantage of cheap migrant labor to keep costs down
22.4. Uses advanced machinery to keep efficiency high
23. Mediterranean Agriculture
23.1. Practiced in the Mediterranean, California, Chile, Australia, South Africa
23.2. Takes advantage of hot/dry summers and moist/moderate winters
23.3. Grows specialty crops such as grapes, olives, nuts, fruits, and vegetables primarily for human consumption
24. Livestock Ranching
24.1. Extensive commercial grazing of livestock in semiarid/arid lands
24.2. Practiced in Western North America and pampas regions of Argentina, Southern Brazil, Uruguay
24.3. In modern times, ranching's primary purpose is to provide product for meat-processing industry
25. Commercial Grain Farming
25.1. Takes place in Western North America and Southern Russia
25.2. Grain= seed from grasses like wheat, corn, oats, barley, rice, millet
25.3. This form of agriculture differs from mixed crop/livestock farming due to emphasis on human consumption than animal consumption
25.4. Areas where crops are planted varies with season
25.5. Today, reaping, threshing, and cleaning are performed at once to harvest the grain
26. Commercial Agriculture
26.1. production of crops for sale and is designed to produce crops for widespread distribution (supermarkets), larger markets, and export.
27. Developed Regions
28. Shifting Cultivation
28.1. Slash-and-burn agriculture can destroy rain forests for swidden, which contributes to global warming.
28.2. Shifting cultivation has a long fallow period, leading to low overall yield/land and low productivity
28.3. 1/4 land is devoted to shifting cultivation, yet less than 5% of people practice it because of the high land per person requirement
29. Plantations
29.1. Generally owned by developed countries
29.2. Primarily grow crops for sale in developed countries
29.3. For example, before the Civil War, plantations were integral to southern U.S.'s economy.
30. Commercial Farming
30.1. Crop Based
30.1.1. Developing countries account for 1/2 of the world's wheat production largely due to increased productivity from large-scale commercial farms.
30.1.2. Wheat is now the world's leading export crop and has a high value per unit weight because it can be shipped profitably.
30.1.3. China and India are the top two producers of wheat in front of the U.S.
30.2. Animal Based
30.2.1. Developing countries have rapidly increased their dairy farming because of rising incomes allow urban areas to afford milk products.
30.2.2. Developing countries surpassed developed countries in dairy farming.
30.3. Von Thunen Model
30.3.1. It is applicable to commercial sectors of developing countries because the cost of transportation is still high and urban markets are growing.